The October Faction became an instant hit with me and was one of the easiest picks for my 2014 highlights and with three issues of perfection already from Steve Niles & Damien Worm……I was hoping this would continue into 2015.

After the quick ending to Merle Copes plans to bring down the Allan family…..it’s time to deal with that body in an issue where Geoff & Vivian find out the harsh truth behind the family business. Dealing with monsters and the evil of the world brings with it the clean-up as well which means moving & burying that body. Grim realization sinks in for them and their father Frederick is eager to let them see every aspect so they know what they’re getting into. An injection of humour into the absurd moments of trying to get a body into a hearse at the count of 3, adds another dimension to the Allan family. A very conscious effort from Steve Niles to anchor the family in the “normal” world (whatever that is) and provide a contrast for the far darker elements that we’ve seen up to now.

Cue the unlikely pairing of Lucus & Robot Face (aka Dante) as they spend some time sharing their story and we discover more of the link between the two and in particular, the origin of Robot Face himself. The multiple layers are being built with every issue from Niles and his writing seems to have found a new level with this title as he builds the characters from the outside in and ends with a typical curveball which means what we thought was happening…..wasn’t actually happening…..because we don’t know know what the hell is happening. Brilliant wrong-footing and a further reason to countdown to issue #5.

Art wise there’s a slight difference in issue #4 as Damien seems to have brought a brighter sense of colour to the pages – perhaps in sync with the more “normal” elements appearing in the story but definitely with the same intricate detail where needed and still very much in tune with the horror story elements in all their grim glory. This is still one of my favourite releases out there and the new layers being added by Niles just seems to be intriguing me more and more as each issue appears on the stands. Robot Face could also become one of my favourite characters too and that cover from Damien screams “Make me into a T-Shirt”.

Niles & Worm continue their gloriously dark title with real style and while I struggle to decide whether to read this first or last from my reading pile it’s definitely top of my recommend list. Go catch-up on all 4 as soon as you can.